$8M expansion pitched at Kealakehe

KEALAKEHE — A new classroom building is being proposed at Kealakehe Elementary School in anticipation of increased enrollment at area schools.

The proposed building will include six classrooms for general education and classrooms for special education as well as art and science. The building will also contain a faculty center, conference room and custodial room, according to a draft environmental assessment of the plan.

Lindsay Chambers, of the Hawaii Department of Education’s communications and community affairs office, said the building is currently in the design phase after completion of the environmental assessment.

“Due to increased enrollment at nearby schools, which have limited space to expand,” Chambers said, “Kealakehe’s new building will help address the growing student population in that area.”

Kealakehe Elementary School is the second largest DOE school in West Hawaii by enrollment after Kealakehe High School.

According to the school’s website, the campus was built in 1969, then as Kealakehe School. By 1986, school enrollment topped 1,400 students, leading to the establishment of Kealakehe Intermediate, which serves grades six through eight.

After the intermediate school split off, the elementary school, serving grades pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, was left with a population of 740 students.

Since then, the school’s enrollment has continued to grow.

For school year 2015-16, Kealakehe Elementary’s enrollment sat at 1,014 students, by far the largest of any elementary school in the complex area. The school’s website indicates a population of 1,080 students, however official enrollment data from the state for the current school year is unavailable.

The other two DOE elementary schools in the Kealakehe complex, Holualoa Elementary and Kahakai Elementary, had enrollments of 489 students and 690 students, respectively, according to Department of Education data.

The new building at Kealakehe Elementary School will allow the campus to absorb growth throughout the complex.

The department anticipates Kealakehe Elementary’s enrollment to increase by about 33 students by 2021. The draft assessment also indicates enrollment at Kahakai Elementary School to increase by about 90 students in the next five years.

The draft assessment indicates that other elementary schools in the complex don’t have the vacant land needed to expand, so more students might be attending Kealakehe Elementary in the future if school boundaries shift.

The new building is expected to take up about 5,500 square feet of the campus between the campus cafeteria and building “G.” For comparison, the school’s building “G” also has a footprint of about 5,500 square feet, according to the draft assessment.

Once the design is completed, Chambers said, plans and specifications can be put out for permitting.

That process could take anywhere from eight to 12 months, she said, because several state agencies need to review and approve the project.

The entire project, including the bid, equipment, construction management and other factors is estimated at $8 million, according to the assessment.

Chambers said that while the price tag could “always change, but we plan to ask for $12 million.”

A construction schedule, the assessment added, depends on funding from the state legislature.

Chambers said the project won’t go out to bid until construction funds are available.

If funding is made available for fiscal 2018, permitting could occur in June of next year. After that, bidding could occur in the winter of 2017 with construction to kick off in summer 2018.

Chambers added that there are “no other concrete plans” for new construction at any other schools in the Honokaa-Kealakehe-Kohala-Konawaena Complex Area at this time.

“However,” she said, “the DOE is always exploring options and trying to anticipate the needs of each community.”

The school’s principal, Nancy Matsukawa, did not respond to phone calls or an email requesting a comment on the proposed building.